On a planet that should have fallen into a black hole, something is awakening deep below and wants to escape from its prison.

***

Hesitantly, the TARDIS materialised in a very tight storage space. The Doctor immediately stepped out, followed by the girls. "I don't know what's wrong though. She's sort of queasy. Indigestion, like she didn't want to land."

"Oh, if you think there's going to be trouble, we could always get back inside and go somewhere else." Rose said, cracking a smile.

The trio guffawed because they knew it wasn't how they worked. "I think we've landed inside a cupboard. Here we go."

"Open door 15." The computer said as he opened a door, leading into a hallway.

"Some sort of base. Moonbase, sea base, space base. They build these things out of kits." He theorised.

Willow closed the door behind them as they wandered through a corridor, listening to the hurricane-like winds outside. "Glad we're indoors. sounds like a storm out there."

Once they reached the end of the hallway, the Doctor opened another door, causing the computer to say. "Open door 16."

"Human design. You've got a thing about kits. This place was put together like a flat-pack wardrobe, only bigger. And easier." They entered another corridor before finally reaching another door.

Willow sighed as they repeated their actions over, the computer stating. "Open door 17."

They entered an area with several tables and chairs. A big sign saying 'Hab 3' hang on the wall. "Oh, it's a sanctuary base." The Doctor realised, wandering in. "Deep Space exploration. We've gone way out. And listen to that, underneath. Someone's drilling."

 However, Rose was not paying attention to the sound of a drill beneath their feet. "Welcome to hell."

"Oh, it's not that bad!"

"No, over there." She pointed out for them, turning their heads towards some kind of alien language painted under to words 'Welcome to Hell'. 

Rose laughed for a second until noticed the Doctor seemed a little uneasy about it. "Hold on, what does that say?" He asked, jogging over to examine the alien writing. "That's weird, it won't translate."

"But I thought the TARDIS translated everything, writing as well. We should see English." stated Willow.

"Exactly. If that's not working, then it means this writing is old. Very old. Impossibly old." He squinted in bewilderment. The Doctor shot up, walking towards another door. "We should find out who's in charge." He began spinning the wheel on the door. "We've gone beyond the reach of the TARDIS' knowledge. Not a good move. And if someone's lucky enough-"

"Open door 19."

The Doctor swung the door open, about to stroll through until they were met by several identical alien creatures. Their heads were misshapen, they had tiny slits for eyes and their faces were extremely wrinkly. They had no mouth, only small tentacle-like strands, almost like spaghetti. In their right hands, they held a small ball with a feed that went inside their faces. "Oh! Right. Hello. Sorry. I was just saying, er, nice base."

"We must feed." The creatures said in union.

"You've got to what?"

"We must feed." They repeated, edging forwards.

"Yeah. I think they mean us." Rose said, pulling the Doctor away as the surely scrambled backwards.

They turned to run back the way they came but Door 17 opened again, revealing more creatures on the other side, approaching them. "We must feed. We must feed." Another door opened, letting more of them to come in. "We must feed. We must feed."

There couldn't escape, the trio was surrounded. The Doctor reached into his pocket, pulling out his sonic screwdriver while the girls grabbed two chairs, holding them up for protection. "We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed. We must feed."

"We must feed-" One of the creatures said before tapping their lit-up ball. "You, if you are hungry."

The trio paused, confused. "Sorry?"

"We apologise. Electromagnetics have interfered with speech systems. Would you like some refreshment?" The alien explained.

"Er..."

"Open door 18." The computer said as Door 18 opened to expose three humans holding weapons.

Their eyes widened in awe upon seeing the trio. "What the hell? How did?" The aliens made way for the humans to join the newcomers, using a wrist-comm to communicate with others. "Captain, you're not going to believe this. We've got people. Out of nowhere. I mean, real people. I mean three living people, just standing here right in front of me."

"Don't be stupid, that's impossible." A voice spoke on the other line.

"I suggest telling them that." He commented.

Rose seemed confused by what the voice stated. "But you're a sort of space base. You must have visitors now and then. It can't be that impossible."

The man eyed her. "You're telling me you don't know where you are?" 

"No idea. More fun that way." The Doctor remarked.

On a tannoy, a woman's voice started to broadcast. "Stand by, everyone. Buckle down. We have incoming. And it's a big one. Quake point five on its way."

The man shifted up to the door they came in from, opening it for them. "Through here, now. Quickly, come on! Move!"

They obeyed, following the three humans down a corridor. Above them, several harsh bangs were heard before a conduit burst overhead, startling them. "Move it! Come on! Keep moving. Come on! Quickly! Move it!" The man ordered.

Eventually, they arrived at the main control room where many people were working at control units. They looked up at the trio, astonished. "Oh, my God. You meant it." A man, who was presumably the guy on the wrist-comm and the captain of the base, muttered.

"People! Look at that, real people!" A young woman exclaimed.

The Doctor nodded. "That's us. Hooray!"

"Yeah, definitely real. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler." She asserted. "And, and this is my cousin, Willow Hughes and this is the Doctor."

A young man with medium length black hair approached them. "Come on the oxygen must be offline. We're hallucinating. They can't be. No, they're real."

"Come on, we're in the middle of an alert! Danny, strap up." The captain commanded him. "The quake's coming in! Impact in thirty seconds! Sorry, you three, whoever you are. Just hold on, tight."

Willow's eyes widened, nervous. "Hold on to what?"

"Anything. I don't care. Just hold on. Ood, are we fixed?"

"Your kindness in this emergency is much appreciated." An alien told him, now known to the trio as an Ood.

"What's this planet called, anyway?" The Doctor asked.

"Now, don't be stupid. It hasn't got a name. How could it have a name?" An older woman answered before experiencing a realisation. "You really don't know, do you?"

"And impact!" The captain yelled, preventing the Doctor from answering.

The base shook furiously for a few seconds. Once it seemed calm, the Doctor straightened up again. "Oh, well, that wasn't so bad-" Then it started again and he was thrown back to the floor as the quake continued. The consoles in the control room sparked and burst into flames as it got worse.

Finally, it slowly ended and everything appeared ok again. "Okay, that's it. Everyone all right? Speak to me, Ida."

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Danny?"

"Fine." He replied.

"Toby?"

Another young man with red hair piped up. "Yeah, fine."

"Scooti?"

"No damage." She answered.

"Jefferson?"

"Check!" The man they met before said.

The Doctor helped Willow back onto her feet. "We're fine, thanks, fine. Yeah, don't worry about us."

"The surface caved in." The captain described, checking the schematic of the base. "I deflected it onto storage five through eight. We've lost them completely. Toby, go and check the rocket link."

"That's not my department." Toby responded.

"Just do as I say, yeah?" Toby nodded, reluctantly leaving the control room in a huff.

"Oxygen holding. Internal gravity fifty-six point six. We should be okay." reported Ida.

"Never mind the earthquake, that's, that's one hell of a storm," Rose added, still listening to the sounds outside. "What is that, a hurricane?"

"You'd need an atmosphere for a hurricane. There's no air out there. It's a complete vacuum." explained Scooti.

"Then what's shaking the roof?"

Ida glared at them, blank-faced. "You're not joking. You really don't know." She stepped down. "Well, introductions. F Y I, as they said in the olden days. I'm Ida Scott, science officer. Zachary Cross Flane, acting Captain, sir. You've met Mister Jefferson, he's Head of Security. Danny Bartock, Ethics committee."

The young man walked by. "Not as boring as it sounds."

"And that man who just left, that was Toby Zed, Archaeology, and this is Scooti Manista, Trainee maintenance. And this? This is home." 

"Brace yourselves. The sight of it sends some people mad." Zach informed them as Ida flipped a lever, opening the roof to reveal a sky view of space. In the centre was a white, hot disc with a black centre, sucking everything in everything that passed it. It was a black hole.

Willow gasped, gazing at the beauty of it. "That's a black hole."

"But that's impossible." The Doctor affirmed.

"I did warn you." mentioned Zach.

He observed their surroundings. "We're standing under a black hole."

Ida nodded. "In orbit."

"But we can't be."

"This lump of rock is suspended in perpetual geostationary orbit around that black hole without falling in. Discuss."

"And that's bad, yeah?" Rose asked, scratching her face.

"Bad doesn't cover it." He declared. "A black hole's a dead star. It collapses in on itself, in and in and in until the matter's so dense and tight it starts to pull everything else in too. Nothing in the universe can escape it. Light, gravity, time. Everything just gets pulled inside and crushed."

"So, they can't be in orbit," Willow stated, understanding what he was trying to say. "We should be pulled right in."

"We should be dead."

Ida gazed up at it again. "And yet here we are, beyond the laws of physics. Welcome on board."

Rose continued to watch in curiosity. "But if there's no atmosphere out there, what's that?"

"Stars breaking up. Gas clouds. We have whole solar systems being ripped apart above our heads, before falling into that thing." She described. 

"So, a bit worse than a storm, then."

"Just a bit."

"Just a bit, yeah."

Another shake startled them as, soon enough, Toby wandered back into the control room. He had large scrolls tucked under his arm as he closed the door behind him. "Close door 1"

"The rocket link's fine." He said as Zach prepared a hologram over the central console.

"That's the black hole, officially designated K three seven Gen five." 

Ida told. "In the scriptures of the Falltino, this planet is called Kroptor, the bitter pill. And the black hole is supposed to be a mighty demon. It was tricked into devouring the planet, only to spit it out, because it was poison."

"The bitter pill," repeated Rose, rolling the words off her tongue. "I like that."

The Doctor didn't pay attention to her opinion, only continuing the conversation. "We are so far out. Lost in the drifts of the universe. How did you even get here?!"

"We flew in. You see, this planet's generating a gravity field," explained Zach. "We don't know how. We've no idea. But it's kept in constant balance against the black hole. And the field extends out there as a funnel. A distinct gravity funnel, reaching out into clear space. That was our way in."

"You flew down that thing? Like a rollercoaster."

"By rights, the ship should have been torn apart. We lost the Captain, which is what put me in charge."

"You're doing a good job." Ida encouraged.

Zach noted. "Yeah, well, needs must.

"But if that gravity funnel closes, there's no way out." added Danny.

Scooti leaned back. "We had fun speculating about that."

"Oh, yeah. That's the word. Fun." He said sarcastically.

"But that field would take phenomenal amounts of power. I mean not just big, but off the scale! Can I?" The Doctor questioned, wanting to observe it with more detail.

"Sure. Help yourself." Ida conceded.

Rose wandered away, being given a refreshment by the Ood and talking to Scooti and Danny. Willow sort of zoned out from the boredom of watching the Doctor look into how all this was possible, it was as if she was drifting.

"Willow..." 

A voice whispered from behind, she turned around to see if someone was trying to gain her attention. Nevertheless, no one was there. 

"Remember..."

Suddenly, her head began to ache, as if someone had punched her in the face. It only happened for a few seconds, then she returned to reality, a little shaken albeit.

"There we go. Do you see?" The Doctor pointed out. "To generate that gravity field, and the funnel, you'd need a power source with an inverted self extrapolating reflex of six to the power of six every six seconds."

"That's enough sixes I think." She said.

"And it's impossible." He added.

Zach raised his eyebrows, amazed. "It took us two years to work that out."

"I'm very good." stated the Doctor.

"But that's why we're here. This power source is ten miles below through solid rock. Point Zero. We're drilling down to try and find it." explained Ida.

"It's giving off readings of over ninety stats on the Blazon scale."

"It could revolutionise modern science."

"We could use it to fuel the Empire." Jefferson added.

The Doctor removed his brainy specs, sighing. "Or start a war."

"It's buried beneath us, in the darkness, waiting." Toby described as if he were a character in a film.

Rose waltzed over to the console. "What's your job, chief dramatist?"

"Well, whatever it is down there is not a natural phenomena." He proceeded. "And this, er, planet once supported life eons ago, before the human race had even learned to walk."

"I saw that lettering written on the wall. Did you do that?" The Doctor recalled.

"I copied it from fragments we found unearthed by the drilling, but I can't translate it."

"No, neither can I. And that's saying something."

"There was some form of civilisation. They buried something. Now it's reaching out, calling us in."

"And you came."

Ida shrugged. "Well, how could we not?"

"So, when it comes right down to it, why did you come here? Why did you do that? Why? I'll tell you why. Because it was there. Brilliant." He straightened up, beaming away. "Excuse me, er, Zach, wasn't it?"

"That's me."

"Just stand there, because I'm going to hug you. Is that all right?" He stated, surprising the crew, including Willow and Rose.

Zach hesitated, unsure but still went through with it. "I suppose so." 

"Here we go. Come on, then." He swung his arms around Zach's body, hugging him awkwardly. "Oh, human beings. You are amazing! Ha! Thank you."

He finally released himself from the Doctor's grasp. "Not at all."

His grin quickly faded, becoming serious again. "But apart from that, you're completely mad. You should pack your bags, get back in that ship and fly for your lives."

Ida's mouth hung open, shocked by his suggestion. "You can talk. And how the hell did you get here?"

"Oh, I've got this er, this ship. It's hard to explain. It just sort of appears." He asserted.

Willow smiled at them. "We can show you, we parked it down the corridor, right by Habitation 3, I think."

Zach shot his eyes back up at them. "Do you mean storage six?"

"It was a bit of a cupboard, yeah. Storage six." He scratched his face anxiously, recalling what Zach had said earlier after the quake. "But you said. You said. You said storage five to eight."

All of a sudden, he darted out of the control room with the girls following behind, unbeknownst to what he had discovered. "What is it? What's wrong?" Rose yelled as they ran back through the corridors, towards Habitation 3.

They entered the room, running through it. "Open door 19. Close door 19."

The Doctor furiously turned the wheel of Door 17. "Open the door! Come on!"

"Open door 17." The computer said as it finally unlocked for them.

The trio ran back through the corridor, towards the nearest door that led to the junction from earlier. "Open door 15." The Doctor tried turning the wheel of Door 16 but it was jammed. "Door 16 out of commission."

"It can't be. It can't be!" He cried before looking out the round window in the door, seeing nothing but the surface of the planet. 

"What's wrong?" asked Willow. "The TARDIS is in there isn't it?"

He shook his head, truthfully stating. "The TARDIS is gone."

"Door 16 out of commission." The computer repeated.

The Doctor proceeded. "The earthquake. This section collapsed."

"But it's got to be out there somewhere." She budged up to the window, gazing through the porthole of the bulkhead door, seeing nothing rocks and dust blowing across the mountainous surface.

Willow couldn't bear to look, realising there was no way to get the TARDIS back, they were stranded. "Look down."

Rose eyed the ground, noticing a deep crevice below. Their only form of time and space transportation, their ticket home, was now gone.

***

Once they were back in the control room, the Doctor attempted to persuade the crew to help him. "The ground gave way. My TARDIS must've fallen down right into the heart of the planet. But you've got robot drills heading the same way."

"We can't divert the drilling." Zach stated.

He disagreed. "But I need my ship. It's all I've got. Literally the only thing."

"Doctor, we've only got the resources to drill one central shaft down to the power source, and that's it. No diversions, no distractions, no exceptions. Your machine is lost. All I can do is offer you a lift if we ever get to leave this place, and that is the end of it."

The Doctor frowned as everyone left the room, Ida approached them. "I'll er, put you on the duty roster. We need someone in the laundry."

The Doctor, Willow and Rose were soon the only ones left standing in the room, with the exception of one Ood. "Open door 1. Close door 1." The computer said as Ida shut it from behind.

He sighed. "I've trapped you both here."

"No, don't worry about us. We're fine." Willow assured him before the base started shaking a little again.

On the other hand, Rose seemed a little more stressed than usual. "Okay, we're on a planet that shouldn't exist, under a black hole and no way out. Yeah, start worrying about me." She pulled Willow in for a hug as the Doctor looked up at what was left of space as it was being consumed by the black hole.

***

Willow and Rose seemed to have settled a little since learning they couldn't leave, however, the Doctor was still a little on edge. The only thing that kept him from complaining was trying to decipher the strange alien writing.

"Danny, check the temperature in Ood Habitation. It seems to be rising." Zach ordered through the comms.

The girls were lined up by a serving window, ready to try some of the food. Scooti muttered to them. "Help yourself. Just don't have the green. Or the blue.

As she left, Rose stepped up to the serving window, noticing that the only options were the blue and the green foods that Scooti was talking to. 

There wasn't really much choice in the matter. "Er, bit of that, thanks."

The Ood plopped the food like mixture onto her tray. "Would you like sauce with that?" It queried.

She nodded nonchalantly. "I'll have a go, yeah. I did that job once. I was a, a dinner lady. Not that I'm calling you a lady. Although, I don't know, you might be. Do you actually get paid, though? Do they give you money?

It held up its translator ball. "The Beast and his armies shall rise from the Pit to make war against God."

"I'm sorry?" 

Willow' curiously raised her eyebrows, freaked out. "Apologies. I said, I hope you enjoy your meal."

"Yeah." She nervously responded, creeped out.

While she wasn't that hungry anymore, Willow approached the Ood, stating what she wanted. The Ood only complimented her before she began to leave.

"Remember..."

She stopped, turning back. "What did you say?"

"Nothing, miss." The Ood replied, seemingly ignorant of what she heard. 

***

The lights in Habitation Three started to flicker, startling the group. "Zach? Have we got a problem?"

"No more than usual." He assured over the comms. "Got the Scarlet System burning up. Might be worth a look."

"You might want to see this. Moment in history." Ida walked over to another lever, pulling it to open the shutters for another look at the giant vacuum. The black hole was sucking in a seemingly red mist, destroying it for good. "There. On the edge. That red cloud. That used to be the Scarlet System. Home to the Peluchi, a mighty civilisation spanning a billion years, disappearing forever. Their planets and suns consumed. Ladies and gentlemen, we have witnessed its passing."

Ida was about to close them until the Doctor halted her. "Er, no, could you leave it open? Just for a bit. I won't go mad, I promise."

"How would you know?" She replied.

"Oh, he's already mad!" joked Willow. 

"Scooti, check the lockdown. Jefferson, sign off the airlock seals for me." Ida left with Jefferson while Scooti exited through another door.

"Open door 18."

Rose, Willow and the Doctor were left sitting by a metal table, having a conversation. "I've seen films and things, yeah. They say black holes are like gateways to another universe."

"Close door 18."

"Not that one. It just eats." He said, kind of confirming Rose's theory.

Rose put her head on her hand, using it as weight. "Long way from home."

He looked up at the sky, configuring the stars as his navigation. "Go that way, turn right, keep going for er, about, er, five hundred years, and you'll reach the Earth."

She nodded, uninterested as she switched on her phone. "No signal. That's the first time we've gone out of range. Mind you, even if I could. What would I tell her? Can you build another Tardis?

"They were grown, not built. And with my own planet gone, we're kind of stuck." He said.

"But your people added their own features to them, didn't they?" Willow wondered.

The Doctor agreed with her statement. "Yeah, which is why I chose my TARDIS. Had more life than I first realised, the first one to harness time vortex energy properly."

"Well, it could be worse. This lot said they'd give us a lift."

"And then what?" He asked unenthusiastically. 

She shrugged. "I don't know. Find a planet, get a job, live a life, same as the rest of the universe."

He grimaced, thinking of all of the possibilities he had now. "I'd have to settle down. Get a house or something. A proper house with, with doors and things. Carpets. Me, living in a house. Now that, that is terrifying."

"You'd have to get a mortgage." Rose pointed out.

"No!"

"Oh, yes!"

"I'm dying. That's it. I'm dying. It is all over." He affirmed.

"Oi, what about us? Rose and I have to get one, too." mentioned Willow. "I don't know, could be the same one. We could both, I don't know, share. Or not, you know. Whatever. I don't know. We'll sort something out."

Of course, he wanted to settle down with her but it could never be. She had to know her past, it would seep out, in the end, either way. "Anyway."

She smiled. "We'll see."

"I promised Jackie I'd always take you both back home." He told.

"Everyone leaves home in the end." Rose replied.

"Not to end up stuck here."

"Yeah, but stuck with you, that's not so bad." Willow said.

His eyes lit up. "Yeah?"

"Yes."

Rose's phone started to ring in her pocket. Thinking it was her mother, she answered it. "He is awake." A gravelly voice said on the other side, scaring Rose so much that she threw her phone to the floor.

***

After telling them what she had heard from both her phone and the Ood, the trio headed over to Ood Habitation where Danny was working. "Evening."

"Only us."

He glanced up at them. "The mysterious couple. How are you, then? Settling in?"

"Yeah. Sorry, straight to business, the Ood how do they communicate? I mean, with each other." The Doctor questioned.

"Oh, just empaths. There's a low-level telepathic field connecting them. Not that that does them much good. They're basically a herd race. Like cattle." Danny explained, showing them all grouped down below.

"This telepathic field. Can it pick up messages?" He wondered.

Rose started to tell him the strange occurrences from earlier. "Because I was having dinner, and one of the Ood said something, well, odd."

"Hmm. An odd Ood." He mocked, trying to be funny.

"And then I got something else on my er, communicator thing." She continued.

"Oh, be fair. We've got whole star systems burning up around us. There's all sorts of stray transmissions. Probably nothing. Look, if there was something wrong, it would show. We monitor the telepathic field. It's the only way to look after them. They're so stupid, they don't even tell us when they're ill."

"Monitor the field. That's this thing?" The Doctor started watching a screen, saying basic 5.

"Yeah. But like I said, it's low-level telepathy. They only register basic five." As he spoke those words, the trio noticed as the basic level rapidly got higher.

"Well, that's not basic five. Ten, twenty." He recorded as it proceeded to rise. "They've gone up to basic thirty."

The Ood simultaneously lifted their heads in unison. "But they can't." Danny argued, checking the basic level himself.

"Doctor, the Ood," Willow observed as the aliens turned their heads towards them. "What does basic thirty mean?"

"Well, it means that they're shouting, screaming inside their heads." He informed.

"Or something's shouting at them." speculated the Doctor. 

"But where is it coming from? What is it saying?" Danny turned to Rose. "What did it say to you?" 

"Something about the beast in the pit." She stated.

"What about your communicator? What did that say?"

She turned her head, anxiously murmuring. "He is awake."

"And you will worship him." All the Ood spoke.

"What the hell?"

The Doctor lunged over the bar, straightening up. "He is awake."

"And you will worship him." They repeated.

"Worship who?" There was no reply. "Who's talking to you? Who is it?"

***

As the Ood calmed down, the trio was investigating them down below, confused to what was happening in this base. Abruptly, the base started to shake furiously again. "Emergency hull breach. Emergency hull breach." The computer stated.

"Which section?" Danny tried to ask through the comms as the three ran back up the stairs.

"Everyone, evacuate eleven to thirteen. We've got a breach. The base is open. Repeat, the base is open!" Zach exclaimed overhead.

"Open door 19." The Doctor, Rose, Willow and Danny ran through the corridor, headed to the place Zach wanted them to go. "Close door 19."

"Come on! Keep moving!" Jefferson ordered. The crew were converging from different directions, running from whatever was happening. "And you too, Toby!"

"Breach sealed. Breach sealed." Everyone crowded in the corridors, breathing fast.

Once again, the Doctor took charge. "Everyone all right?! What happened? What was it?"

"Oxygen levels normal." The computer stated.

"Hull breach. We were open to the elements. Another couple of minutes and we'd have been inspecting that black hole at close quarters." Jefferson informed him.

"That wasn't a quake. What caused it?"

Zach said on the comms. "We've lost sections eleven to thirteen Everyone all right?"

Jefferson stated through his wrist comm. "We've got everyone here except Scooti. Scooti, report. Scooti Manista? That's an order. Report."

She's all right. I've picked up her biochip. She's in habitation three. Better go and check if she's not responding. She might be unconscious." He told them. "How about that, eh? We survived."

"Habitation three. Come on. I don't often say this, but I think we could all do with a drink. Come on." Jefferson ordered them, guiding everyone down the corridor.

The trio stayed put, noticing a shaken Toby panicking on the floor. "What happened?"

"I don't- I don't know. I was working and then I can't remember. All that noise. The room was falling apart. There was no air..." He stuttered.

Rose knelt, helping him up. "Come on. Up you get. Come and have some protein one."

"Oh, you've gone native." 

"Oi, don't knock it. It's nice." Rose asserted, taking Toby down the corridor. "Protein one with just a dash of three."

The Doctor and Willow followed them down into Habitation 3 where everyone was still panicking. "I've checked Habitation four. Can you hear me?"

Though Zach said that Scooti was in there, there was no sign of her ever being in the room. "There's no sign of her. The biochip says she's in the area. Have any of you seen Scooti?"

Toby shook his head. "No, no, no, I don't think so."

"Scooti, please respond. If you can hear this, please respond. Habitation six." Ida requested through her wrist comm.

"Nowhere here. Zach? We've got a problem. Scooti's still missing." Jefferson stated to Zach.

"It says Habitation three."

He sighed, rolling his eyes. "Yeah, well, that's where I am, and I'm telling you she's not here."

"I've found her." The Doctor said, remembering that they never closed the shutters from earlier.

The group looked up, Rose putting a hand over her mouth in terror. "Oh, my God."

Scooti floating lifelessly in the depths of space, being sucked into the black hole. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

With a solemn expression, Jefferson spoke through the comms again. "Captain. Report Officer Scootori Manista PKD, deceased. Forty-three K two point one."

"She was twenty. Twenty years old." Ida stated, marching over to lever to close the shutters.

"For how should man die better than facing fearful odds? For the ashes of his father and the temples of his Gods." Jefferson quoted.

Then there was pure silence, even the sounds underneath had fallen silent. "It's stopped."

"What was that? What was it?" asked Rose.

"The drill." The Doctor confirmed, feeling the vibrations from the ground cease.

"We've stopped drilling. We've made it. Point Zero."

***

In the drilling area, over the tannoy, Zach spoke. "All non-essential Oods to be confined."

Ida walked by, now wearing a bright orange spacesuit. "Capsule established. All systems functioning. The mineshaft is go. Bring systems online now."

Joining her was the Doctor, also dressed in a spacesuit. "Reporting as a volunteer for the expeditionary force."

Zach huffed. "Doctor, this is breaking every single protocol. We don't even know who you are." 

"Yeah, but you trust me, don't you? And you can't let Ida go down there on her own. Go on. Look me in the eye. Yes, you do, I can see it. Trust." The Doctor smirked a little. 

"I should be going down."

"The Captain doesn't lead the mission. He stays here, in charge."

"Not much good at it, am I? Positions! We're going down in two. Everyone, positions! Mister Jefferson! I want maximum system enhancement." He went to check on some last requirements for the trip down.

Willow and Rose approached him as he checked his vitals. "Oxygen, nitro balance, gravity. It's ages since I wore one of these."

"I want that spacesuit back in one piece, you got that?" noted Rose.

"Yes, sir." He put on his helmet.

"Oh, come on! I don't get one last kiss before you go?" Willow demanded.

"I'll leave that until I get back." His speech was slightly muffled by the helmet but it was still understandable. "I'll see you later."

"Not if I see you first." She put her hands on his head, pulling him down for a little peck on the helmet.

"Capsule active. Counting down in ten, nine, eight, seven, six..." The Doctor and Ida accompanied each other as they headed into the capsule, Jefferson closing the door behind them. Willow waved at him with a sweet smile as he did the same. "Five, four, three, two, one. Release."

The capsule began to be lowered, only being held up by a cable. Meanwhile, Toby kept checking his palms unbeknownst to the rest of the crew. Willow and Rose checked their progress on a screen whilst the ginger clutched onto the microphone, hoping to be the voice they heard down below.

"You've gone beyond the oxygen field. You're on your own." Zach said over the comms.

"Don't forget to breathe. Breathing's good." She apprised.

"Willow, stay off the comm!" Zach advised.

"No chance in hell."

From above, they heard the capsule land with a large sounding crunch.

"Doctor? Doctor, are you all right?" There was no answer from him.

"Ida, report to me. Doctor?" Zach asked over the comms.

Willow gritted her teeth, worried until she heard his voice. "It's all right. We've made it. Getting out of the capsule now."

She sighed. "Don't scare me like that! What's it like down there?"

"It's hard to tell. Some sort of cave. Cavern. It's massive." He told her, hearing him chatting to Ida. "You can tell Toby we've found his civilisation."

"Oi, Toby!" Rose shouted to him. "Sounds like you've got plenty of work."

"Good, good. Good." He muttered, tiredly.

"Concentrate now, people. Keep on the mission. Ida, what about the power source?" queried Zach.

They heard Ida's voice, speaking into her helmet. "We're close. Energy signature indicates north north west. Are you getting pictures up there?"

"There's too much interference. We're in your hands." 

"Well, we've come this far. There's no turning back."

There was a few friendly banter between the Doctor and Ida until Danny interrupted on the comms. "Captain, sir. There's something happening with the Ood."

"What are they doing?" Zach asked.

"They're staring at me. I've told them to stop, but they won't." He described.

"Danny, you're a big boy." He argued. "I think you can take being stared at."

"But the telepathic field, sir. It's at basic one hundred," informed Danny. "I've checked. there isn't any fault. It's definitely one hundred."

"But that's impossible."

As the crew listened in, they too knew it was too high. "What's basic one hundred mean?"

"They should be dead." Danny muttered.

"Basic one hundred's brain death." Jefferson answered.

Zach's voice came back on the comms. "But they're safe. They're not actually moving?"

"No, sir."

"Keep watching them. And you, Jefferson?" He ordered, since they had three Ood with them in the drilling area. "Keep a guard on the Ood."

"Officer at arms!" Jefferson requested a female security officer.

"Yes, sir."

Rose widened her eyes at them. "You can't fire a gun in here. What if you hit a wall?"

"I'm firing stock fifteen. It only impacts upon organics. Keep watch. Guard them."  explained Jefferson.

"Yes, sir." The female officer replied.

The Doctor and Ida could only understand some of their conversations. "Is everything all right up there?"

"Yeah, yeah." Willow responded.

"It's fine." Zach lied, feeling a little uneasy."

"Great." Danny replied, still being stared at by the Ood below.

"We've found something. It looks like metal. Like some sort of seal. I've got a nasty feeling the word might be trapdoor. Not a good word, trapdoor. Never met a trapdoor I liked."

"The edge is covered with those symbols." added Ida.

"Do you think it opens?" Zach asked over the comms.

The Doctor huffed. "That's what trapdoors tend to do."

"Trapdoor doesn't do it justice. It's massive, Zach. About thirty feet in diameter." Ida said, examining it.

"Any way of opening it?"

"I don't know. I can't see any sort of mechanism."

"I suppose that's the writing. It'll tell us what to do. The letters that defy translation."

Zach checked on the crew in the drilling area. "Toby, did you get anywhere with decoding it?"

"Toby, they need to know that lettering. Does it make any sort of sense?" Willow questioned.

"I know what it says." He answered, facing away from the crew.

That wasn't exactly the answer they wanted. "Then tell them."

"When did you work that out?" Jefferson wondered.

"It doesn't matter, just tell them." 

Toby turned to them, revealing his skin was now covering in the alien writing and his eyes were blood-red. "These are the words of the Beast. And he has woken. He is the heart that beats in the darkness. He is the blood that will never cease. And now he will rise.

The crew widened their eyes at their possessed crewmate, Jefferson holding up his gun in defence. "Officer, stand down. Stand down."

Willow had unknowingly left the connection to the microphone on, allowing the Doctor and Ida to hear everything. "What is it? What's he done? What's happening? Willow, Rose, what's going on?"

"Jefferson? Report. Report!" Zach ordered over the comms, also unaware of what was going on.

"Officer, as Commander of Security, I order you to stand down and be confined. Immediately!"

Willow put the microphone back up to her mouth, talking into it. "He's come out in those symbols all over his face. They're all over him."

The possessed Toby slanted his head, looking directly at Jefferson. "Mister Jefferson. Tell me, sir. Did your wife ever forgive you?"

Suddenly, the once tough guard was weakened by his suggestion. "I don't know what you mean."

"Let me tell you a secret. She never did." He confessed.

"Officer, you stand down and be confined."

"Or what?"

"Or under the strictures of Condition Red, I am authorised to shoot you." 

Willow knew that who they were talking to wasn't Toby and, since she knew what it was like to be possessed, tried to stop Jefferson. "No, don't!"

"But how many can you kill?" Toby opened his mouth, roaring slightly as the symbols on his body left him and floated into the eyes of the Ood, abruptly jerking to attention. Toby, on the other hand, collapsed as the entity left his body.

The Ood rotated their heads in the crew's direction, their eyes completely red with a black pupil. "We are the Legion of the Beast."

"Willow? What is it, Willow?" Worried for her safety, the Doctor immediately made a decision. "I'm going back up."

"Report. Report!" yelled Zach. "Jefferson, report. Someone, report!

"The Legion shall be many, and the Legion shall be few..." The Ood proceeded.

Willow murmured back into the microphone. "It's the Ood."

"Sir, we have contamination in the livestock." He told Zach through his wrist comm.

"Doctor, I don't know what it is. It's like they're possessed."

"They won't listen to us."

"He has woven himself in the fabric of your life since the dawn of time. Some may call him Abaddon. Some may call him Kroptor. Some may call him Satan or Lucifer."

Danny said next. "Captain, it's the Ood. They're out of control!"

"Or the Bringer of Despair, the Deathless Prince, the Bringer of Night. These are the words that shall set him free." They started wandering towards them.

The crew stepped backwards afraid. "Back up to the door!"

"I shall become manifest..."

"Move quickly!"

"I shall walk in might."

"To the door! Get it open!"

"My Legions shall swarm across the worlds..." Abruptly the planet started to shake again, more violently this time.

"We're moving!" Zach exclaimed. "The whole thing's moving. The planet's moving."

"I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss and the..."

"Get that door open!" Jefferson shouted but it was jammed.

Zach wasn't too worried about the Ood, however, more about getting sucked into the black hole. "The gravity field. It's going! We're losing orbit! We're going to fall into the black hole!" 

"I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more."

The door was still jammed, nothing could open it. "Door sealed."

"Come on!" Rose screamed as the girls violently pulled the wheel.

"Door sealed."

"The Pit is open. And I am free." The Ood finished as the Pit opened deep below, releasing the embodiment of Hell itself.

***

As the title of the episode suggests, this chapter was almost impossible to write!

This scared me so much as a kid, I can remember watching it with my dad and I saw that guy get killed by the Ood translator ball. Pure nightmare fuel! You don't have that in Doctor Who these days. The last episode that actually scared me was Oxygen, hate those zombie things.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, could literally be one of the worst chapters I've written but hey!

- Alice ❤